Isolation ofEscherichia coli0157:H7 Strain from Fecal Samples of Zoo Animal

Aseel Mohammed Hamzah,Jenan Mahmoud Khalef,Aseel Mohammed Hussein

doi:10.1155/2013/843968

Abstract

The isolation and characterization of Escherichia coli O157:H7 strains from 22 out of 174 fecal samples from petting zoo animals representing twenty-two different species (camel, lion, goats, zebra, bear, baboon monkey, Siberian monkey, deer, elk, llama, pony, horses, fox, kangaroo, wolf, porcupine, chickens, tiger, ostrich, hyena, dogs, and wildcats) were investigated. One petting Al-Zawraa zoological society of Baghdad was investigated for E. coli O157:H7 over a 16-month period that spanned two summer and two autumn seasons. Variation in the occurrence of E. coli O157:H7-positive petting zoo animals was observed, with animals being culture positive only in the summer months but not in the spring, autumn, or winter. E. coli O157:H7 isolates were distinguished by agglutination with E. coli O157:H7 latex reagent (Oxoid), identified among the isolates, which showed that multiple E. coli strains were isolated from one petting zoo animal, in which a single animal simultaneously shed multiple E. coli strains; E. coli O157:H7 was isolated only by selective enrichment culture of 2 g of petting zoo animal feces. In contrast, strains other than O157:H7 were cultured from feces of petting zoo animals without enrichment.

Highlights

Since it was first identified in the early 1980s [1], the enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) strains are a subset of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli strains that have been associated with animals and human diseases
Individual isolates colonies of non-sorbitol-fermenting colonies on Cefixime Tellurite-Sorbitol MacConkey (CT-SMAC) medium were agglutinated with E. coli O157 and H7 latex reagent (Oxoid) as shown in Figures 2 and 3
This study includes the isolation of E. coli derived from twenty-two mammalian species from one zoo; this is the first report concerning the isolation of E. coli O157:H7 from petting zoo animals in Iraq

Summary

Introduction

Since it was first identified in the early 1980s [1], the enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) strains are a subset of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli strains that have been associated with animals and human diseases. In humans including self-limited watery diarrhea, hemorrhagic colitis, and the hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) [2], this syndrome happened in 2–7% of people with E. coli 0157:H7 infection causing bloody diarrhea [3], in many areas of the world [4,5,6,7,8]. Among the EHEC serotypes, O157:H7, which expresses somatic (O) antigen 157 and flagellar (H) antigen 7, causes serious morbidity and large disease outbreaks, making this bacterium one of the most important food-borne and waterborne pathogens worldwide [9,10,11]. In 1995, an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections in people was traced to jerky made from deer meat [12]. Most infections of O157 in humans have been linked to exposure to a food vehicle or water, person-to-person transmission of O157 and transmission by direct contact with animals or animal manure have been reported [31]

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